Wish Upon a Star - Bite Sized Emotions
by ExoRipper
Summary: A collection of all my entries for the "Daily Prompts for June 2018" over on Reddit's fanfiction sub. Small drabbles and one-shot prompts based off of Wish Upon a Star, with no impact on the actual story.
1. June 1

Cotton Candy

* * *

 **Prompt:** Your character sees/interacts with something from their childhood and it stirs up old feelings. (300 words)

* * *

He stopped in place. Lapis noticed right away. The whole amusement park fell quiet as a cemetary once he stopped talking.

"Is everything alright?" She asked with concern.

Vesper didn't hear her. He walked towards a vendor, his head brimming with memories of sticky fingers and his brother Chris laughing at him.

Memories of bright lights, of Merry-Go-Rounds, of laughter. Of fun and family and _home_ , which made his stomach twist.

He never told Lapis about his past. Of where he came from and what he'd lost, which made these moments that much stranger for her to witness.

He bought himself a stick of pink, puffed up sugar, and sat down on a bench. Lapis joined him, and he shook the cotton candy her way.

"Want some?" He offered.

She gave an _uhmm_ and ripped a handful of it, careful not to get it all over her fingers.

"You know," he spoke after a while, "I used to eat cotton candy with my brother whenever we visited the carnival back home..."

Lapis listened with curiosity. He rarely opened up about his past, and kept it vague on the rare times he did. But that cotton candy did the trick, and made him talk as tears escaped his eyes.

He told her of his brothers. All of them, but in particular about Chris. The good times they had together, their many misadventures, and how much he regretted losing all of that.

She never expected something as simple as sugar filaments strung on a stick to unravel the mystery that was Vesper to her, but life worked strangely like that.

* * *

 **A/N:** I haven't gotten around to writing for the main fic because I'm still struggling with my schedule. But I get snippets of time here and there, so I'm at least trying my hand at prompts over on Reddit. It's good practice :)

I'll try to keep these short and sweet, and just post them whenever I write them. I'll also try to keep them spoiler friendly, but in case I won't manage that I'll be sure to give you guys a heads up.


	2. June 2

Gift

* * *

 **Prompt:** No shipping! Character A has found the perfect gift to show character B how much they love them. (500 words)

* * *

"What should I get him?" Vesper asked as he moved from one display to the next.

From his side, Neo jerked her shoulders upwards. Which made him sigh, since girls were supposed to know better what guys wanted, right?

Well she didn't, and that left him with the need to figure it out himself. That turned out harder than he'd anticipated.

'Let's start by profiling him. Build a list of his interests,' Neo suggested, tapping on her scroll.

That made Vesper sigh again, more deeply. He wanted to give Qrow a gift, a symbol of his gratitude for the training and wisdom he'd recieved from him. But what could he get a guy like him that he couldn't get himself?

"Alcohol fills the top three spots, and women fill the next two..." he pondered.

'Some fine bourbon?' Neo wrote.

"Nah," Vesper answered. "I've never seen him care what he drinks, he only cares it's alcohol. A whisky tanker maybe," he joked.

As they scoured the mall, they came across an alcohol shop. With no progress in narrowing down any idea, Vesper decided to check it out.

He skipped the bottle filled shelves and made his way to the back of the room. A few stands packed with flasks greeted him, arranged from affordable to outright theft.

'Do you like any?' Neo asked.

He nodded his head, a silent no leaving his lips. The flasks were amazing, with intricate patterns on their surfaces. Especially the more expensive ones, ornated with gold and jewels and whatnot. But Qrow didn't fancy flashy from what he could tell, so all of that meant next to nothing.

"They're all neat, but it has to mean something..."

Neo tapped his shoulder and pointed at another stand. To a flask in particular, which she handed to him.

 _Keep Moving Forward_ was engraved on it's front, the words flowing over a ribbon that tied together two joined hands.

'It's made of silver too, so it's not some cheap piece of crap,' she wrote.

"I'll take it," he answered with excitement.

Neo reched for it, but he kept it away from her. He knew what she planned, so he took off towards the register.

"You're not stealing it for me, I gotta buy it myself," he told her.

'Suit yourself,' she answered.

* * *

Back at Vesper's appartment, they found Qrow in his usual spot in the kitchen. Vesper approached him slowly, his left hand behind his back.

"Hey, so..." he mumbled as he pulled out a rectangle wrapped in gift paper, "I got you something."

Qrow's eyes widened with surprise, and a smile appeared on his lips. Vesper placed the present down in front of him, and Qrow reached for it with giddy hands.

"What's the occasion?" He asked as he tore through the paper.

"It's a thank you. For your training, for believing in me, for everything you've done..." Vesper mumbled as his cheeks reddened.

Qrow pulled the flask out and held it in his hands. Looked at it intently, but didn't mutter a word.

"I know it can't make up for that, but..."

"I love it!" Qrow burst out and clutched it. "Thank you, kid..." his voice grew weaker. "Now come, sit your ass down and let's finish this bottle together."


	3. June 3

At Ease

* * *

 **Prompt:** A single candle burning in the dark. A moment of meditation and introspection. (100 words)

* * *

The bright flame of a candle danced in front of him, slower with every passing heartbeat as he focused his attention.

Vesper inhaled. Exhaled. Allowed the calm flow of air to pick up his burdening thoughts and carry them away.

The darkness of the small cabin he occupied at the moment definitely helped with that. It was quiet. Calm. Uneventful. And for a split moment, as all the dirt and grime that had built up between his thoughts settled, he forgot he was in Remnant. For the first time in months, he felt truly, completely at ease.


	4. June 4

Snuggle Fear

* * *

 **Prompt:** Conflict is the spice of life and there is one your character has been avoiding. (300 words)

* * *

 **!SPOILER ALERT!**

(Kinda')

* * *

Vesper woke up, with Neo tight in his embrace once again. Which scared him, just like it always did.

He shot up from the bed. Pulled his arm out from beneath her head, offering her a rude awakening.

"Ughh..." she half-mumbled, half-growled, not happy that her heat source had fled. "Get back..." she said, and lazily reached a hand for him.

He pinched his brows, frustration and confusion mixed in his mind. When he didn't return, she opened her eyes slightly and saw him walk away.

That promted her to get out of bed as well. Slowly, as it was still too early for her taste, but she changed out of her pajamas and joined him in the kitchen.

By the time she got there, he'd already brewed and poured himself a cup of coffee. A cigarette burned between his fingers, and he seemed lost in thought.

"Why?" He mumbled.

She froze. Stopped pouring the coffee, and met his confused sight with hers.

"Why what?"

"Why do you sneak into my bed?" He asked. Not displeased, but rather afraid, which only served to deepen her confusion.

"I...just..." she blabbered, not seeing any problem with that. "Is it strange or something?"

She could see he made efforts to be more comfortable around her. The ten foot pole had dwindled to an arm's length, but he was still causcious.

"It is," he answered with half a mouth. "I accepted to hide you in my appartment, but..."

'But what?' She wondered. 'Are we still enemies?'

"...just forget it," he completed and waved a hand her way. "And stop doing it."

That last part came out a bit more confident. Demanding. She liked it.

"Hey, I promised I wouldn't do anything to you and I won't," she tried to reassure him. "I just thought that maybe we could...I don't know, be friends or something?"

He sighed. It was clear that she also made effort, that she fought back her nature and upbringing every day. And just as clear was the fact that she never had a true friend, seeing as she was very awkward at the whole deal.

But he still remembered the hospital. Still remembered how she grinned when she lunged at him, blade drawn and thristy for his blood. That stuff was hard to leave behind, try as hard as one might.

"We'll see about that," he answered, calmer now. "There's a lot more work to be done to that point."

She approached the table and pulled out a chair opposite of him. Decided she'd comply with his demand, and stop invading his personal space.

'A _lot_ more work indeed...'

* * *

 **A/N:** It's not outright spoilers, as this is just a small splinter of the dynamic that will develop between these two. And one that's handled _very_ differently from how it will actually be, as I was constrained by the word limit.


	5. June 5

Rainy Day

* * *

 **Prompt:** Absolutely nothing interesting is happening at all. Nothing. (500 words)

* * *

They laid in their beds, sprawled over flowery patterned sheets. Had did that for a few hours now, with no end to the bout of laziness in sight.

Morning came and went. No coffee had been brewed, no cereals hit the bowl. Even the bottle of whisky in the fridge remained untouched.

The reason: rain. It started sometimes last night, and the merciless downpour showed no signs of slowing. It drained their energy, left them as growling, empty husks filled to the brim with _lazy._

The huge droplets pattered and smashed against the window. They listened to them break against the glass, the only sound in the room besides the occasional squeal of a bed or a grumble of their throats.

"Sooooo...booooored..." Vesper cried out.

"Ughhh..."Qrow answered after a while.

There was nothing, literally * _nothing_ * for them to do. No mission to undergo, no meeting to attend, no training session awaiting. So they didn't bother with the whole _getting out of bed_ and _d_ _oing something with your life_ routine.

And Qrow kind of enjoyed that. He derived a sliver of pleasure, and an inkling of satisfaction from simply wasting an entire day like this.

Vesper on the other side, he felt his soul crush under the boredom. His sore muscles were more than thankful for a pause, and his body vehemently refused any unnecessary movement, but his mind...

Oh boy, that stubborn mind of his. It twisted and curled, looped and bent in on itself, desperate for stimuly. Of any kind, really anything would have done the trick as long as it wasn't _this_.

"Let's go out, let's do something!" He burst all of a sudden. Gave Qrow a good scare as well, seeing that he slipped into a rather comfortable nap.

"Nah..." he answered after a while, taking his sweet time to accentuate all of the fucks he didn't give.

Vesper wanted to change that. Get out of bed, get dressed, maybe punch Qrow through his. And through the floor beneath as well if he was at it.

But as push came to shove, and he tried to turn around, his muscles recoiled. Softly at first, and then in violent, jarring increments as he kept pushing them.

With a tired grunt, he accepted defeat and turned back in the bed. Stared at the ceiling, and waited for the sweet release of sleep to come and kill his boredom.

And nothing, literally _nothing_ interesting had been done that day.


	6. June 6

Crystal Cave

* * *

 **Prompt:** It is a scene of immeasurable, world appropriate, beauty that moves your characters. Describe it and how it makes your characters feel, but you can not use the words heard, felt, saw, tasted, smelled, or any permutation of them. (300 words)

* * *

They broke the water's surface, and found a dark pocket of air. One which Vesper greedily inhaled from, until his lungs filled up.

He'd given Yang the oxygen mask about half-way through the journey in the underground river, more or less five minutes ago. That made for an uncomfortable experience as his lungs slowly imploded.

Unserstandably, his chest burned with the need for air.

"Where are we?" Yang asked as she took off the mask.

"Dunno, but thank Oum there's air..."

She swam ahead for a few meters and found a rocky shore. Vesper joined her out of the water, and they took off through the darkness of the cavern.

"What's that?" Vesper asked out of the blue. "Do you see it? It's light!"

He ran ahead while Yang tried to focus her eyes. A faint shine did indeed come from up ahead, in red and blue hues.

She caught up to Vesper and found him frozen in place. Wanted to ask what happened, but she froze too when he got out of her way.

A large cave laid ahead, it's walls and ceiling adorned by dust crystals that gave off a warm glow.

"Whoa!" Vesper exclaimed. "They're huge!"

Yang didn't get to proclaim her own amazement, as Vesper ran ahead once again. Towards the biggest crystal, of course.

Grown smack in the middle of the cave, it dwarfed the rest of them. Easily as big as an Atlesian Flagship, it glowed red and cut through the darkness like a lighthouse.

"We can use it to punch a way out," Vesper said as Yang reached him.

"That's a terrible, horrible idea," Yang answered.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn't the worst idea Vesper had ever concocted. Not by a longshot. And even more worrying was the fact that, for the shortest of heartbeats, she believed him crazy enough to actually pull it off.


	7. June 8

Buzzkill

* * *

 **Prompt:** Character A is about to face one of their greatest fears with character B by their side. (100 words)

* * *

She heard a screech, followed by a hollow thud and a crash.

"Ughhh..."

Vesper burst through her door, scared out of his witts and mumbling nonsense.

"HELP ME, YANG!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and lunged to hide behind her.

The familiar buzzing of a wasp's wings approached before she could ask what the problem was.

"Not _this_ again..." she mumbled, clearly annoyed.

Her hands landed on Vesper's shoulders, and she picked up the bundle of yelps and tears off the floor.

"Now, now," she said, her voice soft and soothing. "You're a big boy, so FIGHT THAT THING LIKE A MAN!" And proceeded to throw him at the wasp.

* * *

 **A/N:** As you can see, I skipped June 7. I'm not doing them in order actually, and I certainly won't get to do all of them either.


	8. June 11

Family Visit

* * *

 **Prompt:** Hello! Someone's family (or family by choice) just showed up on short notice, or no notice at all, and they want to stsy a while. Use internal monologue liberally to tell us how your character feels about it. (300 words)

* * *

 **!SPOILER ALERT!**

* * *

A knock on the appartment door had Vesper up on his feet as he hurried to answer.

'Who could it be?' He wondered. 'Qrow skips knocking and Neo enters through the balcony...'

"Yo!" Chris yelped as the door opened. "I was bored and I thought I'd pay you a visit."

Vesper took a moment to analyze the situation. Something felt off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"You gonna keep me waiting?" Chris asked, a bit annoyed.

"Come in..." Vesper blabbered an answer. "I just...wasn't expecting you..."

"You heard him, guys! Let's roll!"

At his signal, a lot more people appeared. They climbed the stairway and flooded from the elevator, pushing Vesper aside as they entered his appartment.

'Where did they all come from?!' He pondered. 'Mom, dad, my brothers and sisters, aunt Bertha and her family, uncle George...' he counted the torrent passing him by. 'God damn I hate that bastard, what's he doing here?'

They all entered and made themselves comfortable wherever. Crouded like sardines in the small appartment, but they didn't seem to care.

Vesper rushed to the fridge in search of food and drinks to serve his unexpected guests.

'Damn, I'm almost out of beer,' he thought as he pulled out all the bottles he could find. 'And I don't have anything to make some snacks or appetizers,' his train of thought continued.

He haphazardly put together a few plates, and made his way between his guests as he watched them empty.

How are you, bring me a beer bro, those sandwiches look tasty, questions and requests flew at him from left and right.

'They're just as annoying as I remember, but damn...am I glad to see everyone,' he thought with a big smile on his lips.

"Hey," Chris spoke up and waved his hand. "Hey, Vesper!" He continued calling when he recieved no answer.

"Come on, Vesper! Wake up!"

He parted his eyes lazily, their shiny red meeting Neo's mismatched brown and pink.

"Please," she urged as she crawled over him and shook his shoulders. "Qrow's at the door."

'Fuck my life...'


	9. June 13

Silent Crave

* * *

 **Prompt:** Write Character A's observations and ruminations on character B while Character B is out having some much needed fun. Does is Character A in love with Character B? Do they dislike them? Does seeing them in this situation give them new insight on the other character? Does it make them happy, or angry? (Up to 300 Words)

* * *

 **!SPOILER ALERT!**

(I feel like half of these revolve around Vesper and Neo, sorry...)

* * *

Neo hung up the call and placed the scroll down on the table.

'Asshat...'

Third try in the last hour. Third call Vesper failed to answer. Which got her blood boiling, although she didn't want to admit it.

He'd left sometime last evening, with the blue-haired nurse. To go get a coffee, he said, though by now she was sure he got a lot _more_ than a coffee seeing as a night and a day passed without his return.

Without him she was bored, though that was something else she did not want to admit. Even if the two of them spent most of their time together in silence, it wasn't * _lonely_ * silence.

His presence hung in the air, gave that silence a comfort that she grew to crave. She liked being around him, feeling his eyes dart her way every so often. She liked to hear him tap his fingers on the table when _he_ was bored, and the way they gravitated towards eachother as the silence slowly melted away into drawn out breaths and muted heartbeats.

She liked how she could crawl up into his arms, and how he wouldn't say a word, but simply embrace her and carry on with whatever he'd been doing up to that point.

And now all of that was gone, and the silence grew deafening in his absence.

'Why am I even angry?' She wondered. 'He has his own life, I have mine...even if they mixed a little...'

They both agreed that they only sought each other's friendship and nothing more, which still held true. But even so, at the moment Vesper was her closest, and only, friend. The only person to accept her near themselves, and so her life gravitated closer to his every day.

'He'll come back eventually...' she thought, accepting the situation as she peered intently at the door. 'And I'll give him a good ass whoop...'


End file.
